Choice Bus drives home importance of staying in school

I met a man this week who has an interesting and relevant job. He spends his days talking to students about staying in school. And he uses a replica of an 8-foot-by-8-foot prison cell to do it.

Chet Pannock is the lead presenter on the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation's Choice Bus, which was touring schools in Hattiesburg and Lamar County this week.

The bus contains a replica of a prison cell, with two cots, a toilet and a sink - all once used by actual prisoners. The cell is used to get the message across to students that eight out of 10 high school dropouts end up in prison.

Pannock told me his own son struggled with staying in high school. He eventually had to transfer to an alternative school to finish up his courses. He's now in community college and doing well, but things were rough for a while.

Pannock tells the students who tour the Choice Bus that a high school graduate can make an average of $27,000 a year. A college graduate will make $1 million more in a lifetime than someone who drops out of high school.

Pannock says he enjoys talking to the kids, but he wishes more outreach could be done to parents. He said the foundation for kids to make good choices starts at home, not at school. And he believes the home environment these days has gotten a little lax in many cases.

The Choice Bus wrapped up its tour of the Pine Belt on Thursday. It will continue around Mississippi next week. As for next week's happenings at area schools, here's a look: